At 5pm last Friday night, a wonderful thing happened: the begining of 2 weeks on holiday! I will be in and out of town but still prepared a few posts ahead for you. And if you are stuck at home and work, well go stuff it!
No not in the mean insult way silly! That is the theme for this month’s Creative Cooking Crew: Stuff It! So many options but inspiration struck while at a farmer’s market. Delicate zucchini flowers. I have not worked these much and this was the perfect challenge for this delicate flower. A lighter version than the fried kind, I prepared Baked Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms.
A wonderful recipe found here. The result was a treat and very flavorful. A perfect appetizer for the benginning of an elegant summer meal.
(wiki) The female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each emergent zucchini. The male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini plant in the leaf axils (where leaf petiole meets stem), on a long stalk, and is slightly smaller than the female. Both flowers are edible, and are often used to dress a meal or to garnish the cooked fruit.
Firm and fresh blossoms that are only slightly open are cooked to be eaten, with pistils removed from female flowers, and stamens removed from male flowers. The stem on the flowers can be retained as a way of giving the cook something to hold onto during cooking, rather than injuring the delicate petals, or they can be removed prior to cooking, or prior to serving. There are a variety of recipes in which the flowers may be deep fried as fritters or tempura (after dipping in a light tempura batter), stuffed, sautéed, baked, or used in soups.
Thank you Lazaro Cooks and Foodalogue for this month’s fun challenge. Check out what the other members have created on our Pinterest board by clicking on the banner below.
Baked Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 slice day old bread 1 cup
- 1 green onion
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
- a good grind of black pepper
- 100 grams chevre goat cheese
- 6 or 8 medium male zucchini blossoms
- 3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
the Filling
- The bread should be dry, but not totally stale. Crumble or cut it into coarse small pieces. Trim and chop the onion fairly finely.
- Heat the butter in a small skillet and sauté the crumbs and green onion until the crumbs are nicely browned and the onion is soft. Sprinkle over the herbs and the pepper, and once they are well mixed in remove the crumb mixture to a small mixing bowl. Let cool.
- Add the crumbled chevre, and mix well. The mixture should form a ball, but try not to mash the crumbs too much. They should still be fairly light and chunky.
the Blossoms
- Using a sharp spoon remove the stamens from the flowers. Rinse the flowers and drain well.
- Divide the filling into equal portions, one per blossom. Roll each portion into a cylinder to fit into the core of each blossom, and slide it in, closing the blossom gently around it. Have your baking pan ready, brushed with oil, and lay the blossoms in it as you work. Once they are all in, brush their tops with more oil.
- Bake the stuffed blossoms for 15 minutes, until crisped and browned in spots. Serve hot.
Stuffed zucchini blossoms! Sounds very yummy to me especially with the goat cheese filling!
Oh, these are something I’ve always wanted to make! Beautifully done, my friend…they take me back to Tuscany 🙂
That’s very cool, I’ve never seen them stuffed with bread before… mostly cheesy things. These look just splendid and perfect if you have an overactive zucchini patch in the garden.
I had a ton of these growing in my garden this year and never got around to picking them. I love the recipe with chevre and I might try it.
I had a chuckle and continues reading. Beautuful dish and have a great vacation.
Love these! They sound so wonderfully delicious with that goat cheese stuffing!
Great minds think alike!! Squash blossoms are my FAVORITE thing in the summer. I love that these are baked instead of fried.
The stuffed zucchini blossoms look so appetizing.
I only ate them deep fried but your baked version is so much lighter and healthier.
Have a wonderful vacation Evelyn!
I’ve been meaning to try zucchini blossoms tempura but haven’t found the blossoms to try yet. I love your idea of stuffing them and you even baked it instead of frying. Always love your creative dishes!
I particularly like how they got a little crispy – gives this dish more texture. Nice! Hope you are having fun on your holiday!!! xxx
I’m never brave enough to pluck the ones that are growing in our garden but this recipe is making me reconsider… =)
These are so pretty! I wanna make these 🙂
squash blossoms are always so pretty! love the goat cheese in the filling 🙂
I’ve always wanted to try blossoms of any sort though I thought people normally deepfried them?
Adding the bread to the filling is smart. Adds a bit more body to the stuffing. This past weekend, someone said her aunt makes a fish ball mixture and stuffs the flowers with that before frying them. It’s interesting all of the ways you can cook these.
I love the idea of baking the zucchini blossoms…somehow I cannot find them around. I only had tried them in restaurants…and sure would love to get hold of some so I can make this.
Hope you are having a wonderful week Evelyne 😀
Zucchini blossoms are the best and we make them also in Greece! Your baked blossoms are awesome and much healthier than the fried ones!
What a great idea, Evelyne! They look beautiful and sound amazing!
Zucchini blossoms are by far one of my favourite summer treats. Aren’t they great?
~Andrés
I’ve watched chefs cooking with Zucchini flowers on television and always wanted to try them. Your baked version sounds perfect with such a delicious filling. And they look so pretty too!
I have never tried zucchini blossoms and this recipe looks promising to a person like me who has never cooked with them before. The recipe sounds wonderful. Love the presentation. 🙂
What a beautiful dish, Ev! I’ve never heard of baked zucchini blossoms – always fried – so this is a nice lighter change. You’re right, it’s such an elegant dish!
haha, I’m still laughing from your second sentence! You did a beautiful job with the squash blossoms. They’re so delicate that it takes a very deft hand to get them looking so good.
I’ve never tried zucchini blossoms, have always been curious to try the deep fried version. Will keep an eye out, in the meantime I just have to make do with deep fried Mars bars:) Have a good vacation.
Great choice for stuffing Evelyne! They look fabulous! The stuffing sounds perfectly balanced. Hope you’re having a great vacation!
LL
G’day! Your stuffed blossoms look delish, true!
Based on your photo and recipe, I might have to put this on my list to do!
Cheers! Joanne
The stuffed blossoms look so inviting. The goat cheese filling sounds really fascinating.